After graduating from MSU in 1996, Escanaba native Tom Bissell joined the Peace Corps and taught English in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan. When he returned stateside, he worked for several years in book publishing. Among his editorial endeavors was the restoration to print of Paula Fox's novels and editing her memoir Borrowed Finery, conceiving and editing The Collected Stories of Richard Yates, and conceiving A Galaxy Not So Far Away: Writers and Artists on Twenty-five Years of Star Wars. His criticism, fiction, and journalism have appeared in Agni, The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Boston Review, BOMB, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, Men's Health, Men's Journal, and Salon. He is currently finishing a collection of Central Asia-themed short stories entitled Death Defier. He lives in New York City and has returned to Uzbekistan four times since completing Chasing the Sea: Lost Among the Ghosts of Empire in Central Asia, his first book.

“The humor and poignancy in this blend of memoir, reportage and history mark the author as a front-runner in the next generation of travel writers.” - Publisher’s Weekly review of Chasing the Sea.